David Haye has offered a fair assessment on whether Daniel Dubois, as many have already suggested, is the world’s leading heavyweight following his second-round finish over Fabio Wardley.
The pair squared off in an immediate rematch last Saturday, with Dubois retaining his WBO title after winning their first encounter via an 11th-round stoppage.
Back then, Dubois was compelled to survive two early knockdowns whereas, this time around, it was entirely one-way traffic after he floored Wardley within 17 seconds of the opening round.
As a result of his destructive performance, many have named the two-time world champion as the top dog in his division, despite Oleksandr Usyk maintaining his status as the lineal heavyweight champion.
This is in spite of the Ukrainian vacating his three world titles in June, while Filip Hrgovic and Agit Kabayel – the respective IBF and WBC champions – also have their own claims to the heavyweight throne.
As a result – and while considering Dubois’ eighth-round stoppage of Hrgovic in 2024, in particular – former two-weight world champion Haye has told talkSPORT that he believes the top spot remains up for grabs.
“[Dubois is] not clearly [the No.1 heavyweight] off the back of beating someone like Fabio Wardley, who has no amateur pedigree.
“[Based on] the win over [Anthony] Joshua … yeah [he could be the best]. But Agit Kabayel hasn’t lost; Filip Hrgovic has only had that one loss against Dubois.
“He was doing very well in that fight against Dubois, up until his face got torn to shreds. Dubois was eating so many right hands in that fight. There is an argument for any of them [to be number one].”
Haye went on to highlight that Dubois has since tightened his defence but, equally, Hrgovic claims to have been suffering from illness before their encounter.
A rematch between the pair could therefore produce a different outcome while Kabayel, as Haye suggests, is also in the conversation to cement himself as the heavyweight king.
